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First have a corporate livery that is applied to all buses, with a modified version for coaches. Previously they adopted two liveries to buses, one for new low-floor buses and one for all of the others. Some new double deckers also wore the low floor livery. To qualify for the low-floor livery the vehicle had be fitted with the standard First interior and meet the latest European specifications. The various divisions of the company previously had names such as First Badgerline and First Beeline which were based on the names of First's predecessors, but now they are named geographically, whilst vehicles simply have First fleetnames. First have approximately 9,800 vehicles in the UK.
Stagecoach has a corporate livery which has largely replaced an old corporate livery that had been applied to all vehicles since the company was founded in the 1980s. The double deckers above illustrate the old and new liveries. Each division of the company has a different area name, such as Stagecoach in Oxfordshire or Stagecoach in Cumbria. Many of the company's operating divisions were originally separate companies or companies which were taken over from the National Bus Company when it was privatised. Stagecoach also operates a few express services between the areas that they operate in, operates Megabus.com and has a 35% stake in Scottish Citylink. It owns approximately 6,800 vehicles in the UK.
Arriva (pronounced the Spanish sounding way - not rhyming with driver) apply a standard livery to all of their vehicles, but with a modified second version for certain interurban routes. Their buses do not carry regional fleet names but instead have regional descriptors such as 'Arriva serving London' and company names which are similarly geographical. All traces of their predecessors have been removed. Arriva have approximately 7,200 vehicles in the UK.
Go-Ahead is a smaller-large operator, mainly operating in the North East and South East of England. Buses in the North East wear a colourful red and blue standard livery, and have company names that include "Go-" at the beginning, but buses in other regions have their own specific liveries and company names. They purchased Wilts & Dorset on 11th August 2003 which brings their total number of vehicles up to 3,450. The current version of Wilts & Dorset was formed on 1st April 1983 with close links to a previous Wilts & Dorset which started operations in 1915. Wilts & Dorset also use the trading names Damory Coaches, Tourist Coaches and Lever's Coaches on a few of their vehicles. The Birmingham Coach Company (Diamond Bus) was purchased in 2005 to become Go West Midlands (Diamond), but was sold in March 2008.
National Express operate a coaching network across the UK, as well a small number of bus operations. It has a corporate livery of red and blue lettering based on plain white, and is currently on its third version. The original livery illustrated above had its origins from National Bus Company days, using the double N logo, and over time had extended to five different variants for different types of services. This was replaced as part of the company's 30th anniversary with a single livery with a white arrow linking red and blue circles. Then in February 2008 the current livery was launched, featuring grey 'connectors' along the side of the vehicles. It has two main bus companies - Travel West Midlands and Travel Dundee and in total has approximately 2,100 vehicles in the UK.
Transdev is a large French international transportation company that has about 1,200 vehicles in the UK. It's operations include the former Blazefield Group which was formed in 1991 which latterly included Burnley & Pendle, Harrogate & District, Keighley & District, Lancashire United, and Yorkshire Coastliner. Transdev also own London Sovereign, London United, Yellow Buses of Bournemouth and a 17% stake in council owned Nottingham City Transport.
Status Bus and Coach
This company was formed in June 1999, and is made up of loosely related independent bus and coach operators. It has around 400 vehicles.
Welglade
This group started with the purchase of Trent Buses from the National Bus Company on 31st December 1986. In 1989 Barton was added, and the group also owns Kinchbus and Notts & Derby. The Trent and Barton brands were merged in October 2002 to become TrentBarton. The company has a total of about 400 vehicles.
This company was formed February 1987 after privatisation of the state owned company by the same name which was formed in 1926. EYMS stands for East Yorkshire Motor Services, but now also includes Manchester operator Finglands. The company operate around 400 vehicles.
There are also 16 remaining local authority owned bus companies in the UK, for example Reading Transport. Some have sizeable fleets, and include Blackpool Transport, Cardiff Bus, Eastbourne Buses, Ipswich Buses, Islywn Borough Transport (the smallest), Lothian (the largest), Newport Transport, Nottingham City Transport and Warrington Borough Transport.
Related sites to visit:
- Arriva Southern Counties Unofficial Website
- Arriva Merseyside Unofficial Website
- British Bus Web Page
- British Bus Scene Since 1980
- Bus Industry Awards
- BUS STATION - Links Worldwide RECOMMENDED
- Bus Web (UK) RECOMMENDED
- Coach Talk UK RECOMMENDED
- Department for Transport
- London Bus Page
- London Transport
- Marfleet's Coaches
- Metrobus of Orpington
- Preston Buses and CRN142S Website
- Scottish Bus Site RECOMMENDED
- Somerbus of Paulton
- Stagecoach Fan Club
- Stagecoach Paper Buses
- Station Master County Journey Planner RECOMMENDED
- tbc Public Transport Information
- Traffic Area Network RECOMMENDED
- Travel Info
- UK Public Transportation Information Site RECOMMENDED
- Wilts & Dorset Showbus Photo Gallery
- York Travel Guide